Fats - The Good, The Bad, and The What-The-Hell-Is-That-Even-Made-Of?

Fats are a very important part of our diet. Let me rephrase that slightly- The RIGHT fats are an important part of our diets. In fact, without a little good fat in our diets we would not live very long. Fats are crucial to many physiological functions, mainly acting as a source of energy and as a conduit for crucial fat-soluable vitamins such as vitamins A, D, E and K. Fats are also responsible for helping to maintain healthy skin and cell membrane structure! When selecting any food product, it is always helpful to know the difference between the 4 major groups of fats. Monounsaturated, Polyunsaturated, Saturated, and Trans fats.

Mono and Polyunsaturated fats are considered your 'good fats' while Saturated and Trans fats are really the fats you should be limiting and excluding respectively, as much as possible if you're trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. The good fats can be found in foods like natural olive oils, avocados, nuts (almonds, peanuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews), and by extension natural nut butters, seeds such as sunflower, sesame, pumpkin and
flax, fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, trout, sardines) and tofu. These good fats actually help boost a healthy metabolism and encourage your body to burn more calories as well as helping prevent heart disease and/or strokes, type-2 diabetes and boost your mental development and immune system!

The bad fats, found in most commercially prepared products, margarines, vegetable shortenings, packaged snack foods, are the fats that are proven to raise LDL levels (Low-Density Lipoprotein or bad cholesterol) and lower HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein or good cholesterol) leading to the very bad health conditions most people wish to avoid.
Always check your labels. Remember this, the good fats should make up about 20%-35% of your daily calories-from-fat intake while saturated fats should not exceed 10% of your daily calories-from-fat intake. If possible, avoid trans fats completely.

For an easy way to differentiate between the good and bad fats remember this- most unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature while most saturated and trans fats are solid at room temperature.

Trans fats are made through a purely chemical process of 'partial hydrogenation.' This means that an actually healthy fats is packed full of hydrogen atoms and converted into a now unhealthy, solid fat. Think of it this way. Your probably not going to wash an entire pound of crisco down your kitchen sink. You know that drain will clog. But olive oil can go through the pipes with ease, causing no issue. The same goes for your arteries. The more solid the fat, the more likely it is your arteries can develop a clot!

Now that we know the difference... making wise decisions just got that much easier! So 'If at room-temperature it doesn't melt, be prepared to loosen your belt, but if at room-temperature it's in a liquid state, you'll be healthy and looking great!'

This statement bodes true for most saturated fats, however there is an exception as not all saturated fats are created equally. The operative word here being 'CREATED'. Coconut oil, is a very tasty NATURAL oil extracted from the 'meat' of mature coconuts harvested from the coconut palm. 1 tsp or about 4 g, can actually be up to 3.9g unsaturated fat or 19% of your daily saturated fat intake. This being said, the benefits of coconut oil make these numbers seem far less daunting. Firstly, close to 50% of the fat found in coconut oil, 'lauric acid' actually has many health-promoting properties.

Lauric acid is what's known as an MCFA or MCT (Medium-chain Fatty Acid or Medium-chain Triglyceride.) Most common vegetable and seed oils are made up of LCFA's or LCT's (Long-chain Fatty Acids or Long-Chain Triglycerides.) These LCT's are large molecules, which means they are harder for your body to process and break down and will usually just be stored in your body as fat. However, MCT's are a shorter chain fatty acid, thus a smaller molecule AND very easy for your body to break down. Your liver will be able to burn the fat immediately, converting it into energy - much like the process of carbohydrates but without the accompanying insulin spike! So while having a higher saturated fat content, the fat is easily converted into energy, not stored as fat in your body AND significantly helps boost your metabolism! Here's another plus.. When lauric acid is in your body, it is converted into the monoglyceride 'monolaurin.' The benefits of monolaurin are amazing. In your body, it exhibits non-toxic antifungal, antibacterial, antimicrobial and antiprotozoal properties. Basically, monolaurin disrupts the lipid membranes in micro-organisms such as bacteria, viruses and fungi essentially destroying them. Monolaurin compound can be an effective combatant for fungal diseases such as ringworm and athlete's foot, as well as a great way to fight 'candida albicans' better know as either oral or genital yeast infections!

On a slight aside, here's a tidbit of info on cooking with olive oil. Olive oil is best used in salad dressing and only for sauteing foods at low to medium heats. When you use olive oil at a high temperature of cooking you actually begin to change the chemical properties of the oil itself. Olive oil is a monounsaturated fat containing many forms of 'phenols.' These forms of carbolic acid are great for your body, however up to 80% of the dihydroxyphenols are lost when the oil is heated using high heats. The majority of the vitamin E also goes out the door with the heat application as well. Olive oil also has a much lower smoke-point than other cooking oils. This means that it will burn at a much lower temperature. When the oil begins to burn, chemical changes occur within the molecules. 'Oxygen radicals' begin to form quite rapidly. These radicals are known to have carcinogenic effects which have been linked to cancers of all sorts. Just breathing in the fumes from burning oil can be dangerous. So keep that olive oil handy for your homemade salad dressing or make sure you use low temperatures while cooking with it... Really.. try the coconut oil..

So the next time you need to buy cooking oil, and yes I have replaced ALL cooking oils with coconut oil, think on it for a minute. Will you buy a cheap, lower fat-content oil that will actually make your body STORE fat, or a slightly higher and SATURATED fat coconut oil that will boost your immune system, give you all the good preventative 'Anti-' benefits (that costly prescription drugs don't do half as effectively if you do need them), and OH, did I mention the benefits to your skin and hair!? I challenge you to try coconut oil. You can buy it at most Superstores (Loblaws), Sobeys, Bulk Barn (great if you only want to try a small bit) and any hippie health-food store
xoxo

Coconut Banana Bread- LA LA YUM!

I don't know many people who don't enjoy a slice of banana bread. In fact, I only know one person who detests bananas. Isn't that bananas? xo

I'm also very fond of coconut now that I know a lot more about it's hidden health benefits!! This recipe I think is still a bit rich, however I am going to experiment with more ways to cut out the sugar. My roommate hates dates, but you could always soak and puree some dates to mash in with the bananas. You might need to adjust your flour measurement, but I'm sure that would significantly cut down on the added sugar factor.

You'll need:
Dry mix-
1 3/4 cup Flour (I was using whole wheat)
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup shredded coconut (I used sweetened and used less sugar)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp orange zest

Wet mix-
About 3 large super ripe bananas (mine were frozen and really dark brown and sweeeet)
1/2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 egg + 2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla or one vanilla bean insides scraped out
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup coconut milk
3 tbsp fat free sour cream

Pre-heat your oven to 350° (325° if you have a convection oven)

Step 1- in a bowl, mix together all the dry mix ingredients.

Step 2- In a second bowl, mash the bananas very well and mix in the rest of the wet mix ingredients. Whisk gently to break up the eggs, but don't over whisk or you'll risk the bread being too dry..

Step 3- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold together. If you find the batter is too thick, add a bit more coconut milk to thin it out. It should be just pourable, well plopable 

Step 4- Pour into a loaf pan lightly greased with coconut oil and a bit of flour. Bake for about 35 minutes. After 35 minutes, insert a tooth pick into the centre. It should still come out with batter. Turn the pan and bake for another 20 minutes. Test again with the toothpick. My oven cooks it perfectly in this time, but no two ovens are the same, so if it's still not cooked, set your timer at 5 minute intervals and check with a toothpick until it comes out clean!

Let the loaf rest for 30 minutes before removing from the pan. Resist all urges to devour the entire loaf. This loaf makes about 16 slices, so it lasted us 4 nights.

You can try substituting about 2 Tbsp of flour for cocoa powder, or add 1/4 cup chocolate chips to the batter.

As I mentioned, I was using sweetened coconut. My bananas were extremely sweet and I find that coconut milk, while the brand I buy says 0g sugar, still has a beautiful natural sweetness to it so I actually only used about 1/3 cup brown sugar. Again, try some pureed dates and maybe bring the added sugar down to 1/4 cup!

Le Yum
xoxo

Chewy, No Bake, Almost Vegan Granola Bars

     Every so often most people will decide they need to lose weight. Some of those people actually MAKE the effort to do so by exercising and changing their eating habits. For me, I've decided to make these changes too. I've cut out most superfluous sugars, replaced regular and whole wheat flour with Red Fife, whole grain, spelt and chick pea flours, cut down on meat intake, upped legume, fruit and veggie intake and cut way down on my dairy intake. Boy does my tummy thank me for THAT last one ;)

On that note, I'm trying to replace most store bought 'treats' and 'snack foods' with natural and tasty alternatives where I can control the quantity of sugar that is added (if it's even needed!)

Last night I made some really chewy granola bars that are just simply delish! I didn't really measure anything so my quantities are guesstimated here but you can always play around with the ingredients and find out what you like. I used honey for this batch as money was a bit tight this week. You can replace it with Agave nectar or brown rice syrup, the latter having the least amount of calories as well as actually having the lowest amount of sugar per serving AND making these vegan... Unfortunately I just couldn't afford to buy both honey and rice syrup and I need the honey for other things.. Next time tho! I did get some dried fruit mix but I won't use it again as it has too much sugar. I ran out of $$ to buy for fresh fruit to dehydrate.. and I didn't actually add the dried blueberries since my roommate didn't like them...

 Makes About 10 bars

Ingredients

2 tsp coconut oil

2 Tbsp cashew butter

1/3 cup smooth or chunky peanut butter... 

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup honey

1 Tbsp molasses

1  cup TOTAL of:

Chopped dry roasted and unsalted almonds

Sesame seeds

Sunflower seeds

Dried apple ( I dehydrated my own in the oven to avoid added sugar)

Chopped high quality dark chocolate chopped

Dried blueberries (again I made my own)

Flax seeds

About 1 1/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup Rice Crispies or organic rice or kamut puffs

Method

Mix the first set of 'liquid' ingredients in a plastic or glass mixing bowl to make a smooth paste where all of the coconut oil is incorporated.

Add the 1 cup of mixed ingredients. Pop the bowl into the microwave and nuke for about 20-30 seconds. This will melt the chocolate in with the nut butters and will also help with the addition of the dry ingredients.

Add the rice cereal and the oats. Again, since you heated the liquid mixture you will find it much easier to incorporate the oats and rice cereal. Once all the oats are coated with the 'liquid' mixture, line a loaf pan with a thin layer of coconut oil and press the mixture in nice and tight. Chill for at least 2 hours, then cut and enjoy!

For the 1 cup of add-ins feel free to omit, swap or add anything you like. Always use dry roasted unsalted nuts ( unless you don't worry about sodium intake.) You might want to try: 

Cashews

Golden or Thompson raisins

Carob chips

Banana chips

Poppy seeds

Other types of dried fruit         (just remember commercially prepared ones have added sugars and things you most likely can't pronounce)

Just go nutz and have fun!!

Best Beef-free Burger

Some days I crave nothing but meat. Beef, lamb, chicken, I could eat them all. But today was different. We have had four consecutive nights that included ground beef. Two nights of beef enchiladas and two nights of my spin-on-a-friends'-grandmothers spaghetti and meaty goodness sauce. So it was time for some foliage and extra veggies! I knew I wanted burgers but couldn't bring myself to pull the ground beef out of the freezer. I decided that mushrooms were a must, and some excuse to finish my avocado (not that I ever need one). So portabello mushroom sliders were the dinner special chez nous!

You need:
4 small portabello caps
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large clove garlic thinly sliced
4 slider buns
About 1/2 small log of goat cheese
Tomato slices
1/2 a small avocado sliced
Roasted red pepper strips ( I make my own instead of buying them in a can or bottle)
Lettuce leaves
Dijon
Mayo


Step 1: Make the marinade for the mushroom caps by mixing the balsamic vinegar, dried herbs and sliced garlic. Place the mushroom caps in the marinade and spoon over the mushrooms. I let mine marinate for about 2 hours flipping and spooning again half way through.

Step 2: Once the mushrooms have marinated, grill them if you have a small electric grill (like a George Foreman or Cuisinart grill) or sear in a non stick pan.

Step 3: ASSEMBLE! It's that easy! Just make sure you put the goat cheese right on top of the hot mushroom so it melts and the flavours meld into a mouth watering combination!

Step 4: Devour! I ate mine so fast that I wish I had another! My friend thought the sliders were so good, she thought they had meat in them!! PSYCH! lol

We had ours with oven roasted potato wedges and our first corn on the cob of the year! BTW, I owe a big shout out to my friend for picking, without a doubt, the BEST corn I've had in forever!

* If you want to make your own roasted red peppers here's some tips
I usually use red, orange or yellow peppers for this, green peppers are sometimes too bitter.
Wash the peppers and pat them dry. Lightly rub them with some olive oil. If you have a gas stove, you can place the pepper right over the flame. If you don't have gas then put the oven on high broil. It takes longer in the oven, but it's still worth it. Leave it over the flame or under the broiler until the skin turns black. Flip the peppers around until the whole pepper is black. Let the peppers cool for a few minutes, then wrap them in paper towel and rub off the black skin. The pepper should be cooked, but not burnt under the skin. Voila! roasted red peppers at home, and they definitely don't taste like they have been sitting in a can.

You can also make a sweet vinegar pickling liquid to give the peppers even more flavour. I use a combination of white vinegar and cider vinegar, about 1/2 cup white vinegar and 1/4 cup cider vinegar ( don't be afraid to play around and find out what your flavour preference is), 3 Tbsp of sugar, 2 cloves of garlic lightly chopped, rosemary (fresh or dried) maybe 1 stem fresh or 2 tsp dried, and a pinch of thyme (again fresh or dried). Place everything in a small pot and heat just until all the sugar is dissolved. While the peppers are still warm, place them in a jar or container and pour the warm pickling liquid over them. Place in the fridge and by the time everything is cold, the peppers can be eaten, enjoyed and loved!!

Moroccan Bean and Turkey Stew - A Flavourful Fowl Makeover

   
     When buying a turkey at the holiday's a good butcher will always know how to advise you on the right size bird to buy to feed your brood. For the average family the rule is 1 pound per person plus about another 3-4 pounds for leftovers. It's always a struggle trying to find that glorious turkey that will undoubtedly feed the family and maybe have enough to send home with the 'kids'. More often than not, there is so much food on your dinner table you could feed an entire army! Kids fight over the stuffing, the older folk fight over the neck and the kitties get the giblets. One happy family dinner! Once the hoopla is over and done with, doggy bags packed and gone, one often large problem remains. The remains of the often too large turkey, that is! What once was "will this be enough?" has now turned into "what the HECK am I supposed to do with all this?" Sounds familiar doesn't it?! So the next weeks regimen usually consists of a few (hundred) turkey sandwiches, some turkey pot pie, turkey soup, and some desperate attempts at making turkey NOT taste anything like turkey. I came up with one recipe that masks the flavour of the fading fowl and turns it into a mouth watering Moroccan myriad of flavours.

You'll need:

2 small onions, sliced or diced
Olive oil for sautéing
1 large diced carrot
2 Cloves of garlic, chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp tomato paste

2  tsp paprika 

2 1/2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

1 1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground mace

1/8 tsp ground cardamom

2 cups diced turkey (white and/or dark)
3 cups turkey stock

1 can 19fl oz (540 mL) navy beans rinsed and drained

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/8 cup chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Start with about 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy bottom pot and sauté the onions until translucent, about 5 mins on medium heat. Add diced carrot and  for about 5 more minutes. Now add the chopped garlic and let cook for about 2 minutes.

2. Add in the tomato paste and all the dried herbs and spices. Stir in the diced turkey and add the turkey stock and beans. Let simmer for about 20 minutes or until your carrots are tender.

3. Add your chopped apricots and raisins and let cook for another 5 minutes (depending on how soft your apricots and raisins are - you want them soft but not mushy)

4. Just before serving your stew, garnish with the chopped parsley.

If you like a twist, you can replace the chopped parsley for cilantro, add a squeeze or two of lemon juice, or add a dash or ten of your favourite hot sauce ( mine is 'El Yucateco XXX-Hot'- a habanaro based hot sauce I pick up from my local Mexican restaurant

I served mine on cardamom and saffron infused rice and I could hardly tell that turkey was in my dinner...

(Sorry, no picture.. I ate it too fast!)

Xoxo,
-C

Growth Hormone Used in Beef and Dairy Cattle - Research Assignment for Biology

Over the past 60 years many significant changes have taken place in the food production industry worldwide. Dairy and cattle farms have increased in size and have boosted production at an astounding rate to meet the demands of the growing population. Through scientific advances in genetics, changes in feed and the use of hormones, farmers have been able to speed up the natural growth process of beef cattle and increase the natural production of milk from dairy cows. This process has raised many eyebrows over the decades and is still quite a controversial issue of ethics today. 

In the 1950’s the average dairy cow could produce about 665 gallons of milk per year, however with new technology and the use of hormones, today the average cow can produce about 2,320 gallons, almost three and a half times more annually. The beef industry has seen the same types of changes since the fifties. A cow, raised naturally and grass fed takes about 23 to 25 months to mature to an appropriate age for slaughter depending on breed. With the implementation of new corn-based feeds and growth hormones, cows grow and gain weight faster, reducing their maturing period down to an astonishing 13-15 months, at least 10 months less than nature intended. Cows are natural herbivores, meant to eat grass and plants. However in the 1970‘s large feed lots discovered they could shorten the growth period and reduce feeding costs by feeding cows corn. The implementation of new feed and hormones together reduced the natural development and production to what we today see as ‘normal’.

Hormones are chemicals that are naturally produced in an animals’ (and humans’) body that control important body functions such as growth, development and reproduction. While hormones are already present in the living organism, additional hormones are sometimes given to speed up these natural body functions. Hormones can be separated into two categories, steroid hormones and protein hormones. In general steroid hormones can be taken orally, an example being birth control medication for women, while protein hormones have a tendency to break down in the stomach losing their ability to act within the body, thus they are usually administered via injection to have full effect. Both types of hormones can be further categorized as natural or synthetic. In Canada there are six hormonal growth promoters that have been approved for use in the beef and dairy industries. Progesterone, testosterone and the female sex hormone estradiol-17β are the naturally occurring hormones administered to cattle to promote rapid growth and increase milk production, while synthetic trenbolone acetate or TBA, zeranol, and the progestin melengestrol acetate or MGA are also used. Another growth promoter rBST or recombinant bovine somatotropin is widely used in the United States, approved solely for use in beef cattle, but has been banned in Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and all 27 countries in the European Union. In Canada it is illegal to administer synthetic growth hormones to dairy cows, while in the United States, these restrictions do not exist. 

The hormone MGA is a steroidal progestin that, while not approved for use in humans, is used as a feed additive for cattle to promote rapid weight gain and growth. Protein growth promoters, on the other hand are usually administered via subcutaneous implants, usually behind the cows’ ear in a small pellet form. The ear was chosen as the best injection site for cattle as the ears are always discarded after slaughter and there had been concerns that injection to other cutaneous sites could show higher concentrations of the growth hormones in the edible meat products. There are often incidences of irritation or infection at the injection sites causing discomfort to the cows. The determining factor the countries against the use of rBST was the ethical issues related to its use. It was found that cows given the rBST had extremely high chances of developing clinical mastitis, whereby painful inflammation of sensitive udder tissue occurs. The chronic inflammation is sometimes accompanied by even more painful mammary gland infections. Clinical mastitis in dairy cows can also lead to bacterial infections like staphylococcus aureus. When this type of infection occurs, somatic cell counts increase to try and fight the infection. These excess somatic cells then enter the milk humans drink. Hormones are used to keep dairy cows in a constant state of milk production. This can also lead to Bovine Leukemia Virus, Bovine Immunodeficiency Virus, and Johne's disease, similar to the human Crohn's disease and they often go unnoticed because they are difficult to detect and have long incubation periods. 

With the use of hormones, cows grow and gain weight at a rate that is quite hard on their body structures. It is not uncommon for cattle to have weak, brittle bones that break easily, and low tolerance immune systems.  

While the FDA and World Health Organization have explicitly denied there is any evidence that the use of these hormones can affect human dairy and beef consumers, there is also no evidence disproving the concerns. Many large animal rights’ activist groups and consumer groups such as the Organic Consumers’ Associations of Canada and United States all feel that the use of hormones is not only an issue of ethics where the animals are involved, but issues of concern exist widely for the consumers. It is hard to believe that consuming meat or dairy products pumped with extra hormones and growth promoters could have no effect on human consumers. In the late 1970‘s, a study conducted in northern Italy looked at specific rates of young boys and girls who consumed meat and dairy products that had been treated with illegal growth promoters. The study showed that a high percentage of both boys and girls were reaching puberty, and both were developing breasts at a much earlier age than normal, age 7-10. The ‘Beef Hormone Dispute’ eventually led to the ban of imported meat treated with hormones across the European Union in the 1990’s during the mad cow disease crisis. Still to this day, the FDA  maintains that since the bovine growth hormone is not active in humans, there is no connection between the early onset of puberty in humans and the use of growth promoters, though no effort has been made by the FDA to collect any data or evidence to confirm their claim.

It seems that the decision to support or refuse the use of hormones has been left to the consumer. Today, more and more consumers are opting to purchase their meat and dairy products from shops whose suppliers avoid the use of growth promoters. More consumers are also considering the negative impact on the animals’ health and the ethical treatment of animals. Movies and books such as ‘Food Inc.” and “Forks over Knives” exposing the use of hormone growth promoters have become popular in the past decade. These movies, while not explicit evidence according to health organizations, lend to the feeling of conspiracy over the issue, driving more people to support their local hormone-free butcher shops, farmers and dairy producers instead of the larger corporations that monopolize the beef and dairy industries. The questions that most educated consumers are left with are sincere enough to deserve proper investigations and consumers as a whole must demand in the future that proper data be available to prove or refute the issues at hand.